


go live

by teddygirl105



Category: ONF (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Androids, End of the World, Gen, Pandora's Box, Why MV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26873533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddygirl105/pseuds/teddygirl105
Summary: I don't know when I'll see you again.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	go live

**Author's Note:**

> happy one year to the queen of a title track why
> 
> i wrote this in two hours so like. don't expect a coherent plot lol

Hyojin wakes up with a start, a cold sweat running down his back and phantom pinpricks of a needle jabbing into his skin. It's not the first time he's startled himself awake from his memories, nor would it be the last.

He stares at the bright red of his holo-clock that sits across from him, illuminating his cold, empty room. Other than the lone picture frame that sits next to it, there's no sign of life in Hyojin's room. Just himself and the white walls.

He misses his old place. The small, cozy apartment with insanely high rent that he and Seungjun shared. Old band posters on the walls, polaroids of themselves, failed attempts of paintings that they kept as memories. Their place felt lived in, it felt _alive_.

Seungjun. It had been so long since he had last seen him. To think that Hyojin wouldn't even get to say goodbye.

He should have never brought him to that lab. He just wanted Seungjun to see the truth of the government, how those proclaimed, "exemplary subjects for testing" were full of lies and deceit. Hyojin knows from experience. Extracted DNA, hair samples, blood samples, all to create someone- no, _something_ that looked like him. An android that was in all ways Hyojin.

The government promotes that subjects get a heavy amount of compensation money, enough to last them the rest of their life. He already knows that it isn't true, that instead they kill him off because he's of no use to them anymore.

He knows that if he tries to run, he'll be hunted down.

Hyojin swallows down the thick feeling in his throat, lying down and pulling his thin covers back up to his chin.

* * *

_"Hyojin… What the fuck is this?"_

_"Subject 199-501-23. Another exemplary subject in testing for direct cloning. This is the result."_

_"A man in a tube?"_

_"It's still unstable. Being inside helps to stabilize its major functions until they see development."_

_"And the real person?"_

_Hyojin shrugs. "Stuck in a room until he needs to be brought out for more tests, I presume. Or, if they've advanced far enough, dead."_

_Seungjun frowns, facing his best friend. "Why so pessimistic? Y'know Hyo, you've been awfully off character for a while now. What the hell is up with you?" he hisses._

_"Nothing." Hyojin answers a little too quickly, avoiding eye contact. Seungjun shoves his shoulder, forcing them face to face._

_"It's not nothing. Don't lie to me."_

_"It's nothing you'd be able to understand." Hyojin snarls, pushing Seungjun back._

_"We've been friends for years, Hyojin! 13 years, might I add! What don't we understand about each other?"_

_His mouth opens and closes like a gaping fish, unable to find the right words. It's not like Hyojin can casually spill government secrets that he had sworn not to tell, even if it is Seungjun._

_"I can't tell you."_

_"Like hell you can't!"_

_Hyojin grits his teeth. "Fine! Once they're done, the government is going to kill me off, and the only thing left of me will be an android-me! There! Is that what you wanted to hear?" he bursts out, hands fisted tightly and trembling at his side._

_Seungjun goes pale. He stumbles back, blinking wildly at Hyojin. "No… You're- you're lying. They wouldn't do that." he whispers._

_"You know it's true, Seungjun." he seethes. "You remember Mrs. Kim's son. He was chosen too, and he never came home. And when we saw that Laun model android? We both knew how much it looked like him."_

_"Then- Then you have to run away!" he exclaims, grasping Hyojin's shoulders tightly. "You need to leave, Hyo! I'm sure we can arrange someplace for you to stay at, or-"_

_"Do you think I haven't tried already, Seungjun?" He rips Seungjun's hands off of him, stepping back to create space. "They hunt us down if we try to escape. No matter what I do, it'll end up with my death! Can't you get that in your damn head? Not everything can be fixed!"_

_Hyojin lets out a frustrated yell, his voice turning wet and desperate. "I never asked to be this perfect subject! I never wanted this, Jun. Never in my life." He takes big, heaving breaths in order to calm himself down, to ease the pressure that grows in his chest. Seungjun just stares, unable to comprehend everything._

_A few minutes pass. Hyojin finally regains his composure, face slack as if their little outburst had never happened._

_"You should go." he mutters, staring at Subject 199-501-23's clone instead of Seungjun. "Before they catch you here."_

_Seungjun looks like he wants to say something else, but he stops himself in time, closing his mouth. He walks out without another word._

_Hyojin isn't sure if he's made the right choice._

* * *

It's on one of his rare days out that Hyojin can _feel_ the sudden disturbance in the air. It begins to pool towards a cluster of highrises, in multiple other places that he can't pinpoint. It feels… destructive.

And then, meteors begin to fall.

They streak the sky in the hundreds, their tails burning bright as they soar through the air. Dread fills his body.

_Someone has opened Pandora's Box._

He begins to run, trying to remember where Subject 199-403-22 had last been stationed. Luckily, his android lookalike is close by, and Hyojin practically falls on his hands and knees when he meets them, heaving for air. They're cloaked in black and wearing a mask in order to avoid someone seeing Hyojin in two places at once, but he knows that it's them.

"What is going on?" Subject 199-403-22 asks, watching their original slowly rise. Hyojin has never liked how flat they made their voice, but he supposes that emotions would have gotten in the way.

"The world is ending." he calmly explains, stepping towards his android self. "Pandora's Box has been opened. The world will destroy itself in order to be born anew."

"Why?"

A mirthless smile stretches on his face. "I wouldn't know." Hyojin tilts his head. "Subject 199-403-22? I have a favour to ask of you."

"Yes?"

"Please, hold out your right arm."

Subject 199-403-22 does as they're told, observing how Hyojin goes to clasp their forearm. All of a sudden, there's a jolt of energy surging through them as a flood of data reaches their mainframe, making them stumble.

"What-"

"I am currently uploading my memories to you." Hyojin answers. "I'm afraid my death is inevitable, even if the world will be reborn. Though you aren't exactly my complete reincarnation, I'm afraid you'll have to do."

Subject 199-403-22 sees a memory flash on their optical sensors, one of Hyojin with a boy that their mainframe provides as "Seungjun."

When they go to ask Hyojin, they notice that he's starting to fade. "What's happening to you?"

"Instability." is all he answers, too nonchalant to be someone facing his death. "Once I am gone, you will be Hyojin. There will be no other."

A foreign feeling swells up in Subject 199-403-22's chest cavity. An odd feeling of "desperation," "fear," and "regret."

"H-Hyojin?" they whisper, feeling their vocal box _crack_. They feel sad. They want to cry.

Hyojin's whole body has turned translucent, shimmering in small sparks of gold and floating away. "If you ever see Seungjun in this new world… Please tell him that I'm sorry." The smile on his face holds pain. Regret. "And Hyojin?"

They look up. A tear falls from their original's eye, streaking his cheek.

_"I wish you the best of luck."_

The last of him disappears into the air, leaving "Hyojin" alone. 

**Author's Note:**

> [ twitter](https://twitter.com/teddygirl105)   
>  [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/teddygirl05)


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